Vitrification System for Treatment of Plutonium-Bearing Waste at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Nakaoka, R. ; Veazey, G. ; Mullins, D. ; Smith, C.

Technical Information Center Oak Ridge Tennessee

关键词: Vitrification;    Plutonium;    Alpha-bearing wastes;    Radioactive waste processing;    Gloveboxes;   

RP-ID  :  DE2001781252

学科分类：工程和技术（综合）

美国|英语

来源: National Technical Reports Library

【 摘 要 】

A glove box vitrification system is being fabricated to process aqueous evaporator bottom waste generated at the Plutonium Facility (TA-55) at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The system will be the first within the U.S. Department of Energy Complex to routinely convert Pu(239)-bearing transuranic (TRU) waste to a glass matrix for eventual disposal at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). Currently at LANL, this waste is solidified in Portland cement. Radionuclide loading in the cementation process is restricted by potential radiolytic degradation (expressed as a wattage limit), which has been imposed to prevent the accumulation of flammable concentrations of H2 within waste packages. Waste matrixes with a higher water content (e.g., cement) are assigned a lower permissible wattage limit to compensate for their potential higher generation of H2. This significantly increases the number of waste packages that must be prepared and shipped, thus driving up the costs of waste handling and disposal.